The wind was knocked out of banking sectors shares yesterday, putting a halt to the momentum provided by the strong full-year results published by Bank of Valletta at the end of October.
After two days stuck in a tight trade range, HSBC Bank Malta and Bank of Valletta both surrendered to the significant supply which continued to flood the market.
HSBC Bank Malta ended down by 1.5 per cent to Lm7.03, after trading between Lm7.15 and Lm7 throughout the session. Initial demand provided support around the previous day's closing level but once this started to dry up, the price fell abruptly to Lm7. Subsequent trading activity managed to push up the price by a few cents.
Bank of Valletta shares also fell in sympathy, losing 0.7 per cent, to Lm7.00c1. Here again the share price was supported for most of the session and it was only in the last half an hour than the share price started to move lower.
In the rest of the market performance was mainly positive with shares of Maltacom, Simonds Farsons Cisk, Plaza Centres and Lombard all gaining in price. The former registered the highest gains for the day, climbing by 2.5 per cent to Lm1.70.
Meanwhile, single deal transactions in both Simonds Farsons Cisk and Plaza Centres managed to push up their prices by two per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively, while Lombard Bank shares closed at their record high of Lm7.10.
The Malta Stock Exchange Index closed the session down by 0.4 per cent, at 4,514 points.
Oil and telecoms drag Europe lower
London's leading equities markets lost ground yesterday, as news of flat interim profits at Sainsbury failed to impress investors and the oil sector weakened after crude prices hit a four-month low. The FTSE 100 lost 0.8 per cent to 5,395.4 and the mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 0.6 per cent to 8,050.6.
European equity markets were lower yesterday as weakness in oil and mining stocks and further declines for telecoms stocks added to the effects of a late sell-off on Wall Street. By mid-morning, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 edged was 0.9 per cent lower at 1,222.75, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax index fell 0.8 per cent to 5,070.71. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1 per cent to 4,497.42.
A sweeping sell-off of retail stocks during the last hour of trading sent Wall Street lower on Tuesday, with sharp losses in the sector, put a halt to the momentum provided by merger and acquisition activities earlier in the day. The S&P retail index dropped 2.3 per cent, led by losses in Target - down 7.1 per cent at $54.30.
Danone finally concluded the sale of its loss-making US water cooler joint venture yesterday to Kelso, the US investment fund, but said that it would take a charge of €100 million in the second half of the year against the investment, despite the write-down.
The Nikkei 225 rose to a four-year closing high yesterday after showing weakness for most of the past week, as investors stopped fretting about the recent sharp rise in domestically-focused stocks.
The financial news was compiled by Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and BOV Stockbrokers Ltd (2275 1732).